Linkville Press Anthology

I am so excited to share this news with you!!! The Linkville Press author anthology, themed New Year, is almost ready and will be posted on Amazon in the next couple of days. This anthology will feature seven plus stories from various Linkville authors, including myself and the proceeds for this short story collection will go to charity. I am very happy to be a part of this project. Be sure to check back for the final details. 

***The Anthology is LIVE on Amazon now!***

From Our House to Yours~Happy Holidays!

Boy, this year flew by! I can't believe that 2018 is around the corner. The holidays are here again, and for us this season, it's all about family and love! I certainly am blessed with mine! So from our house to yours, we wish you a very happy holiday season, blessings and a healthy new year! Here's to 2018! May it bring wonderful experiences and things to us all! Jingle-Jingle!

(Patten-Gemberling family photo shoot 2017/ArtfullyOddPhotos (C))

Sorry for the Absence

Thank you for being patient with me these past months. I am trying to locate my mojo...it's around here somewhere, lol and I think I know where to look. Sunday begins a new chapter. More to follow!

Updates and Good Reads

Good afternoon friends. I hope that this is finding you all doing well, happy and healthy. It's been a bit since my last post...I am sorry for that. Up until yesterday, I am not afraid to say that I have been struggling a bit. It's been a difficult road for me to put the events of the last month behind me. I just have not been able to find a way to let go of my sadness over my Dads passing, but something clicked yesterday. I am actually not sure what it was, however, I am feeling better. This is not over by a long shot, I know. My Mom reminded me that this is all very fresh and we all grieve in different ways. I have found that to be true in the last few days. I haven't been alright...not by a long shot. Having said that, I really haven't told anyone that except for a small group of people. By small, I mean, 3. So, I am sure that I have looked odd to most in the past few weeks.

I actually shut myself in the house for the past 2 days. I have backed away from friends. It was so bad on Tuesday night, that I actually had to take matters into my own hands. I knew I had to find a way to get past this part in the grieving process. So, I wrote all my feelings out. Everything...out there. It seemed to help. I woke up yesterday and felt lighter. Today, much lighter and I came up with a plan. I have to do something to pull myself up and out. Besides going to work every day which is just basically going through the motions, I have to expand on my art. I have to find new projects, plan new shoots, work on new photos, finish my own edits on my 2nd manuscript. I have to.

So, I am beginning today. I have ordered a new camera and I am going to be offering a special on mini sessions. I will post those details soon. I have plans to work on my edits starting next week and I have started working on photos again. I know that I will never get over this, but then neither will my family or my Mother. I have faith that it will get better though. I am posting some photos below that I have been working on. Let me know what you think. Also, my book was added to Good Reads. This  is a great place to share your love of reading and books. It's a great place to rate, review and recommend books to your friends and others on the site. So, check it out!

I will sign off for now, but keep your comments and emails coming. I would love to hear all about your goings on...how you are enjoying fall. Even if its to tell me how much you love pumpkin spice anything, lol. Life is short my friends. Connecting to our fellow human is what keeps us alive. Enjoying new experiences. I have found that shutting ones self off, starts to kill your soul. So, lets connect! The topic is fall anything :) Go!

Have a wonderful evening!
Anna
Artfully Odd

Lost Files-Words & Things

I am always scribbling on paper. I have reams of it all over the house. There are notebooks in a bin by my desk that I write in. When I am gone, someone, (Maddy) will go through all of it and think...what the heck? She was the pack rat of paper, lol! Today, as I was looking for one said notebook, I stumbled onto a poem I had started last year sometime...I think, lol. I never date these things, but none the less, there it was.

Who would have thought? Well, actually, I would have because you never know with me. As I said, always scribbling. So, in the spirit of this new moon and retrograde period...in the spirit of trying new things and opening ourselves up to all the universe has to offer, I am going to share what there is of these scribbles on paper. It has  no title, no form really. Just some ideas that I must have jotted down in between edits this past winter. I have noticed though, after reading this, that I usually write about one thing, lol and it's like this. A working title would be good though....

She walks those darkened hallways

Alone

Barefoot

Red is what she sees the most

It is warm and wet and envelopes her like the embrace of  a lost love

Wet, she feels it on the tips of her toes

The hem of her skirt

Red, like the color of love and life and the blood that she tastes

Wet, with the possibility of a future she could not even imagine

Blood in the silence of cast shadows

She dreams

Red

Wet

Open to the universe

Hmmmm....Definitely needs a title! Need to file this under my Words and Things category and the Lost Files. It's nice to find surprises while flipping through my notebooks. That's probably why I am a serial scribbler. I will be jotting down some more lines to this I hope. Perhaps then I will share how it has turned out. Anyway, I hope that the day has treated you well my friends. Here's to being open to all of this wonderful creativity in this retrograde period! What has been keeping you busy? How are you using this energy?

Have a great evening!

Anna

AO 

1 Snap for 30

Welcome to the 1st of September! As promised, today starts my 30 snaps for 30 challenge. Today finds me running errands. I know, boring right? It must be done though as we have family coming into town tomorrow. So I thought this a fitting that this be my first snap for thirty. Now you all know what kind of car I drive, lol. I hope I have had some takers on this challenge. I am going to use the tag 30snaps and 1snapfor30, feel free to use them too.

Have a great day my friends! Let's see where our eye leads us :)

Anna
Artfully Odd

One Snap for Thirty

Well, hello my friends! I hope that this finds you all doing well and enjoying the last few weeks of summer. We have been fairly active this summer and I have been glad for it as a few weeks ago, we lost my Dad. His death, while I am glad he is not suffering anymore, has affected me deeply. My Dad was a happy, funny, wise and loving individual who always had some wisdom to share. He did amazing things in his lifetime, like working for NASA...No, really...he did! He raised a son and then took on the task of being a wonderful father to me and my brothers. He made my Mother happy. He enjoyed camping, poker and he disliked anything that could not be explained rationally, lol. We once had an argument over the movie The Ring, because of that very thing, lol. Can you imagine? He was never far away and even though we had not talked over the phone much this past year, I loved him. I know he loved me.

I have been very blessed with a very strong support system and while I am not over this hurt by a long shot, they have kept me in the life of the living. Kept me busy. They have not allowed me to lay down and give in to my sorrow. Today, as I write this, I am very thankful for that. I am loved just as my Father was loved...he saved me more times than I can count and that's what it is all bout in this life. Forming lasting relationships in this big and scary world. Giving and being loved...well, I had that and will continue to have it. I was a very lucky girl to have him be a part of my life and I will miss him for as long as I am here on this plane. So, I have had good days and bad. I am sure that will stay with me for a while, but I still have to move forward. Even if there are days that I don't want to. I know that we as humans almost always say this when tragedy touches us, but it rings true. Tell those that you love, that you love them. Not just now and then, but EVERY single day! You just never know... 

In that spirit of things, a challenge has been lay down. Something to keep me from wallowing. Yes, I have decided to take on a little creative challenge. I am going to pursue some inspiration and shoot something every day for the month of September. That will mean that I will never be away from my camera. I will be looking for inspiration in everything I do. Even the boring stuff. I am pledging to post a snap for every day and I am kind of excited to see where I end up then. Just picture it...a snap shot of something every day. What will my life look like in photos? The possibilities are endless!

So, here it is. I am not only challenging myself to do this, but I am challenging you too! Imagine the things we can create or see or do in 1 month? What will all this creativity look like? How and where do we find inspiration? I don't know the answers, but I am excited to find them out! Are you with me?

Let's fill our news feeds and walls with something beautiful every day, just by living our lives!

Anna
Artfully Odd